Osamu Maruoka

Osamu Maruoka (1951-29 May 2011) was a member of the Japanese Red Army and one of the hijackers of Japan Airlines Flight 404 in 1973.

Biography
Osamu Maruoka was born in 1951, and he joined the Japanese Red Army terrorist group. On 20 July 1973, Maruoka and four PFLP members hijacked Japan Airlines Flight 404 after its takeoff from Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, and one of the hijackers was killed when her grenade prematurely exploded, wounding the plane's purser. The plane landed at Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, and the hijackers demanded the release of Lod Airport massacre survivor Kozo Okamoto, but Israel refused, so the plane was flown to Damascus and then to Tripoli in Libya. The passengers were released, and the plane was blown up. Maruoka escaped and led the 1977 hijacking of Japal Airlines Flight 472, forcing it to land in Dhaka, Bangladesh in another failed hijacking, and he was caught only in 1987 when he attempted to enter Japan on a false passport. A life sentence was finalized in 2000, and he died of a heart problem in 2011 in prison.